


Vampire Lord Krillin

by Gan_HOPE326



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 23:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16922721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gan_HOPE326/pseuds/Gan_HOPE326
Summary: When fighting one of Baba's warriors as a kid, Krillin was bitten by a vampire. What if that little bite had consequences more serious than a simple wound? What if it changed the story of DBZ forever? What would happen to Krillin... once he becomes a Vampire Lord?





	Vampire Lord Krillin

"Hiyaaa!"

With a last screech from Fangs, the battle, or perhaps the exorcism, was over. The vampire fell off the ring, repelled by the onslaught of garlic, crosses, and such other unpleasant things hurled at him by Puar and Upa, whom Baba had graciously allowed to fight as a team due to how weak they seemed. Now, the old witch was regretting that choice, but fair was fair - she had agreed, and she'd been duped.

At the edge of the ring, Krillin massaged his head, looked at his hands, then massaged some more, worried.

"He bit me." he mumbled. "Look, I'm bleeding. He really bit me!"

Goku peeked over his bald head, eyeing the two small red spots. "Why are you so worried?" he asked. "That's nothing! Asre you afraid of blood?"

"That's not it, Goku, you idiot!" shouted the other kid. "It's because he's a vampire! The stories say that when they bite you, you become one of them!"

"I wouldn't worry too much." pitched in Master Roshi. "They also say that vampires die in the sunlight, and look at this guy. Today's a very bright day, and he's as fresh as a rose!"

Baba floated to the scene on her ever-present crystal ball. "Some of those stories are exaggerated, indeed. He only gets a bit of an itchy skin on days like these. I'm almost sure nothing weird will happen to the kid."

Krillin raised his head, in tears. "Are you _really_ sure?"

" _Almost_ sure." repeated Baba.

 

** Vampire Lord Krillin **

 

What the woman woke up from was deeper than sleep. It was absolute unconsciousness. As she came to, it was like an instant had passed since she'd closed her eyes - and yet, she could also somehow feel like a whole eternity had gone by. It was like coming back from the dead.

Slowly, her senses came back to their function, and her memory returned to her. There wasn't much in it, really - but of a few things she was sure. Not a name, not an identity, but a number.

Eighteen. 

She was locked inside something, like a tank, or a coffin. Yes, she remembered now: this was the container in which Dr. Gero, the man who had made her (or unmade her? She was pretty sure she had been something else before being _this_ ), stored her when he didn't need her. As soon as her strength came back too, and she became able to control her limbs again, she pushed the lid of the tank with ease. It wasn't heavy, or rather, she was way too strong for it. She emerged from the container, expecting to see the familiar machinery of Dr. Gero's lab.

None of it was there.

This place was different. There wasn't much light, but what she could see looked far less shiny, far dustier and more _ancient_ than any laboratory. Walls of stone, torches hanging from them, moth-eaten tapestry and empty suits of armour aligned all around the room. Candles glued on tops of human skulls on the few pieces of furniture. More than just being creepy, this place was almost a _caricature_ of creepy. Eighteen felt like she was on the set of a horror movie. 

Wait, had she ever _seen_ a movie? What was that from? Dr. Gero certainly would not have allowed his creature to waste time on such idle nonsense.

The android carefully stepped out of her pod, straightened a bit her clothes, shook her pretty blonde hair. She tried to decide where to go. It wasn't a long process - it was clear that whoever had brought her there, and arranged for her to wake up, also had laid a clear path for her to follow. Out of all the doors on the sides of the room, only one was open and led into a long, straight illuminated hall. Eighteen didn't have much issue taking the hint. After all, she could just tear her way through the walls at any time she liked if something didn't sit well with her.

The hall, she discovered as she walked through it, was littered by memorabilia set on pedestals. Items of all sorts, some familiar, like weapons or garments, others far less recognisable, pieces of tech that may as well have been alien for all she knew. When she rose her eyes from one of those and found herself looking straight into those of a green, scaly monster her heart skipped a beat - she jumped back and put up a defensive stance.

No need, she realised, relaxing one moment later and feeling a bit stupid about having let all the gloom get to her. The monster wasn't really there - it was just a trophy. A decapitated head, captured in an expression of surprise, dried up and hung on a wall like any deer or boar in a hunter's house. She looked at it, curious. Maybe a defeated enemy? But what manner of man, or creature, kept such macabre mementos of their victories?

 

_The kid's neck snapped under Tambourine's swift kick. This was way too easy, decided the monster, with a satisfied grin. Master Piccolo would be happy that he could retrieve a Dragon Ball so quickly._

_He was about to leave when he heard some rustling, and steps behind him, coming closer. Which made no sense. Behind him was just the corpse of..._

_...the kid._

_"That was a strong kick." said Krillin, his head still twisted in an unnatural angle by his broken neck. His larynx must be half-crushed, because the voice came out wrong. "But with me, you're out of luck."_

_Tambourine froze. The kid's head snapped back in place. Then he opened his mouth, revealing two sharp fangs, and before the monster could react jumped at his neck._

 

That wasn't the only trophy, either. The hall, noticed Eighteen, was full of them. Some were monsters. Not all of them, though. Just a few steps ahead, there was a man. A large, bald head, with a thin moustache and a muscular neck, contorted in a horrified grimace.

 

_"Dodge it, Nappa, you idiot!"_

_A last second nudge, and the kienzan hissed right past Nappa's head instead of straight through it. Took the Saiyan one second to realise that following instinctively Vegeta's advice had saved his life - the energy disc, for whatever reason, was insanely sharp, for something fired by someone so weak. That could have been enough to decapitate him. Instead, it gave him only a slight wound, little more than a papercut, on one of his cheeks._

_"Thanks, Vegeta." Nappa grinned. "And you, little one, tough luck. You might have hit me with that, but now you lost your chance!"_

_A sinister light dawned in the pale kid's eyes. "Oh," he said, with a devious grin, "but I did hit you."_

_He gestured with his finger, as if calling someone to him. Nappa wondered who it was, when he started feeling a pressure on his cheek. A pressure coming from the inside._

_His blood wanted to leave._

_Panicked, he covered his cut with his hand, to no avail. The blood pushed hard, squeezed in between his fingers, flowed out, and the more of it left his body, the weaker he felt, the more he let go. Vegeta was observing the scene without intervening, perhaps indifferent, perhaps scared. The red liquid streamed through the air in a thousand thin trickles, and all came to the kid, who kept calling it to him with his hand, and gently guided it to his mouth. As the blood dripped on his tongue, the numbers on Nappa's scouter were going crazy._

_"Vegeta..." said the Saiyan, choking, "...it's over nine thou..." and then the last drops left his body, and everything went dark, forever._

 

Right next to it was another human head, this time smaller, with more refined lineaments. A high forehead, a sharp chin, and long pointy hair. Bit of a pity, she thought. He must have been pretty.

 

_Vegeta was battered, wounded, beaten. Nothing had gone according to plan, nothing had gone like he could have possibly expected. Oh, sure, he had fought hard and had taken a fair toll from his enemies. But still, there he was: defeated. Defeated by a low level Saiyan and some unnatural earthling abomination, at that. The Prince of Saiyans should not lose to the likes of such creatures._

_Perhaps he should have stayed and faced death. But for all his pride, his time under Frieza's talon had made him reconsider the opportunity of biding one's time and striking when it's most convenient. Without that, he would have gone mad. Vegeta pushed a button on the remote he kept in his armour and recalled the capsule._

_He heard a metallic sound right next to his ear. Raising his head, he could see the earthling - not a human, they weren't that colour when they were alive - towering above him, with a red gleam in his eyes, a sword in his hand, that he had been dragging on the ground and was now mere inches from him. He felt a shiver, and the terror of his own impotence._

_He was at the mercy of this being. His life or death were in his hands._

_Pleading would be both shameful and useless, at this point._

_"Krillin, I need to ask you a favour." said Goku. He wasn't in much better a condition than Vegeta himself. "I know... it's been hard... but please, if you could let him live. I just want... to fight him again... one-on-one."_

_Krillin looked back at his friend, uncertain, then to Vegeta again. And Vegeta saw a kind of stare he'd never seen addressed at him. He'd been looked at as a Prince and as a slave. But never as_ food.

_"I'm sorry, Goku." said Krillin, raising the sword high, and licking his lips. "But all that fighting left me really thirsty."_

 

The next one was not human either. Eighteen had to wonder what kind of knowledge about the world had she missed. Dr. Gero hadn't been the most thorough teacher, mostly uploading basic information straight to her brain. But perhaps, not even the good doctor knew about this manner of creature. Bulky, white-skinned, with two purple streaks and a helmet that looked like it was made of bone fused with the skull, and two protruding bent horns, like a bull's. Even dead, it radiated a sense of strength. Whoever had managed to kill it, she decided, must be powerful. She slowed her pace, and tried to stay on guard, as she walked past.

 

_Frieza's horn pierced Krillin's chest slightly below the sternum. That ought to shut this little monster up, he thought. He didn't plan on transforming, but had not realised someone this powerful could possibly come from whatever muddy backwater of the galaxy these pests were from. Going to his second form and taking him by surprise ought to do it, though. Surely this tiny enemy couldn't have a power level stronger than six, seven hundred thousand at most._

_"Nice attempt," said Krillin, "but next time you should aim for the heart."_

_Next time I will, thought Frieza, and started violently twisting his neck to toss the enemy aside, but one second later, there was nothing weighing it down any more. His enemy had dissolved into a myriad of tiny black flying creatures that were now swarming around him. An annoyance, just an annoyance. Frieza swatted at them lazily._

_Their numbers didn't dwindle. It was like they kept spawning._

_Some started biting. It hurt._

_"How dare you!" screamed Frieza, exploding with anger and energy at the space around him._

_But the explosion was weaker than it ought to be, he realised. And there were more and more of those flying creatures. And they kept biting. And his strength felt like it was vanishing by the second, now..._

 

The final head, Eighteen knew all too well, instead. And seeing it here, the furrowed brow, the long white hair, that bushy moustache, made her crack a smile. Perhaps her host was an interesting person, after all, as this was a most appreciated gift.

"Hello, doctor." she said, mockingly, at the empty eyes that stared from the wall. Always angry, always mad, like the old fart himself.

"You like it?"

The voice had come from the far end of the corridor. It was shrouded in darkness, as the torches ended right where she was, and she couldn't make up the new figure. The silhouette was imposing, though. A tall man, almost two meters, wrapped in a long cloak.

"It's appreciated." she said, while carefully stepping in a position from where she had more maneuvering space. "Though it's a bit of a pity I didn't get to do it myself, I guess."

"If it's any consolation, it wasn't particularly fun." commented the host. "He wasn't even a half decent fighter. Not even becoming an android made him a match." 

"An android?"

Only then Eighteen noticed that the top of the doctor's head was a crystal dome, bolted on top of the rest, broken in a few round spots.

 

_"You can't do anything to me, fiend!" screamed the old doctor, panicked. "I have no blood for you to feast upon!"_

_Krillin grinned. "Not exactly true." His fingers grabbed the top of the cyborg's head, where the soft brain was hosted and fed, and started clutching tighter. The glass cracked._

 

"Huh. Put his money where his mouth was, at least, I guess." the android raised her eyebrows. "So, who do I owe the pleasure to?"

The figure stepped forward, smoothly. As it emerged from the shadows, its shape got clearer, and Eighteen switched from curiosity, to surprise, to barely repressed chuckling.

The cloak was mostly empty. Under it was a short, pale kid with a shaven head, floating a good meter above ground.

"My name is Krillin," explained the kid, with a deep voice that didn't quite match his appearance, "and I'm pleased to welcome you to my castle."

"Right, pipsqueak." Eighteen's eyes took on a slightly threatening slant. "Question time: where is my brother?"

"Your...?" Krillin frowned, then suddenly lightened up in understanding. "Oh, you mean number Seventeen? The other android? He's still in the lab, don't worry. I just wanted to wake you up first to, huh, get you familiarised with the situation and all."

The woman drew a slight sigh of relief. If he was telling the truth, that was her most pressing worry gone. "Let's get down to it then, so we can go wake him up too as soon as possible. Familiarise me. Where are we?"

"My castle, as I said. Up in the mountains, not too far, in fact, from Dr. Gero's lab."

"Ok." Eighteen thought about it for a second. " _When_ are we, then?"

"That is a more interesting question." Krillin turned around, his large cloak flowing dramatically behind him, inviting the other to follow him. She did so, and they found themselves in a large room with a tall thrown on one end. Disquietingly, the throne seemed to be crafted out of bones. "I don't know when Gero put you to sleep, so I can't answer in a way that would fully make sense to you. I can just tell you that Dr. Gero tried to run back to wake you up when he was being pursued by me and my companions, but never made it, as you have seen. And that since that day, approximately five hundred years have passed."

"Five hundred..." 

But of course. Bound in Gero's service, waking on and off for short stints of tests and training, Eighteen never could fully appreciate the extent of her true lifespan. But here she was, outliving the good doctor by five whole centuries. Suited him well, she decided. Irony at its finest.

"So, what are you?" she inquired. "I've got an excuse for being still alive after all this time, but what about you?"

"I thought you might have guessed." said Krillin, sitting on the throne now, lazily sloshing some red wine in a cup carved out of a skull. "Living in a dark castle, pale, immortal. Dries out his enemies, to the point that their mummified heads persist to this day."

"Oh."

Guess that wasn't actually wine at all. Not that this much worried Eighteen. She was beyond worrying about monsters since she'd become one herself.

"But you are just a kid." she pointed out.

Eighteen could have sworn the deadly pale cheeks had blushed. "I'm not... look, I was like this when I got bitten, ok?" the vampire blurted out. "But I've grown a bit."

"You've grown."

"Very slowly. I think I've put a couple of centimetres since the beginning."

"Wow. You must have started _really_ short, then."

"Beware!" suddenly shouted Krillin, getting up from his throne. An aura of shadow emanated from him, and the room got significantly darker. "Age to a vampire isn't the same as to a human. Age is  _power_ . It is not just a couple of centimetres that I have gained throughout five hundred years of living!"

Eighteen didn't budge. "Well, I'm happy you've got something to compensate with, I guess."

The vampire scoffed. "You believe you have the upper hand."

"Don't I?"

"You think I would have woken you up if you did?" Krillin's aura drew back into his body. "I surpassed your power long ago."

The android raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's interesting. And here I assumed you woke me up because you needed someone to fight for you. That's usually what people want me for. I mean, that, or the other reason... wait a second,  _is it the other reason?_ "

The vampire panicked. "What... what other reason?"

"The one you're thinking of right now."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You so do! Look, you're blushing again! Dude, no way, you're like twelve."

"I'm not blushing! And I'm five hundred and thirty... give or take a few years."

The android shrugged. "Well, you  _look_ twelve."

"Anyway!" Krillin ended the conversation with a sweep of his mantle. "Your first guess was not entirely wrong. I _do_ need you to fight for me."

"And why would that be, if you're oh-so-powerful?" asked Eighteen with a smirk.

"Because there's two enemies." answered the other, curtly. "And one of them is so strong, it will take me all my might to hold him back. So I needed someone to fight with me to defeat the other. Help me, android, and I will wake up your brother as well, and let you live as you please, as long as you do not threaten Earth."

"No interest doing that, don't worry. And it's an interesting offer." said the android. "So, how much time do I have to decide?"

A wall of the castle exploded. The cracked stone shards flew inwards, sharp enough that they would have cut to shreds any normal humans. As it was, they merely ruined Eighteen's clothes, something however that tended to mightily piss her off. She turned to look at who had just earned a honour place on her personal shit list.

Floating mid way on the hole blasted in the wall were two human-looking figures, a man and a woman. Both wore dramatically gothic-looking clothes, with cloaks and high collars. Both had blood red skin and pointy ears, and a mark of a letter M on their foreheads.

"You had until one second ago." said Krillin.

"Vampire!" shouted the largest of the two, the man. "I have come to finally settle our centuries old score! No longer you will be able to stop me from gathering the energy my master needs to wake up Majin Bu. With master Babidi's help, I have brought an ally with me: today you will face the might of not only Dabura, lord of demons, but his sister Towa as well!"

Eighteen took a fighting stance. "You know what, I accept." she said. "I feel like punching their stupid faces anyway."

"Perfect." Krillin tossed aside his cloak, revealing a dark gi with a long, purple belt. "You take the woman. She should be at your level."

"Hey, watch your words!" she protested, but she had to reconsider that one instant later. That is, when Krillin vanished and punched Dabura so hard, he sent him straight into a nearby mountain. Except one instant later Dabura was back again with a flying kick, and soon the brawl devolved into a flurry of blows so quick, her eyes couldn't follow it any more.

"Brother!" screamed the other demon, who had not yet joined the action. "I'll come help you!"

"Oh, no, you won't!"

Eighteen had already had enough of people looking like horror movie extras with bad makeup and worse costumes, and she barely had a clue of what was going on at all, but at this point she figured out beating someone up was her best chance of making sense of it. Especially since the bald kid, for all his weirdness, seemed a better horse to bet on than these two. So she jumped in and, before Towa could toss herself in the fight, possibly trying to take Krillin from behind, she kicked her face into the ground.

That felt satisfying.

"How dare you, _bitch_." hissed the demon, getting up from the floor with a bleeding nose.

"That's my line." snapped back Eighteen, annoyed. "See my shirt? It's barely holding together. Whose fault you think that is?"

"Well, then we'll have it match with _your face!_ " screamed Towa, kicking off the ground and into a spin. Strong of the knowledge of every martial art ever invented downloaded straight into her brain, Eighteen couldn't help but notice how shabby her technique was, while still being better than her taunting skills. She blocked her.

The punch _still_ made her fly a dozen meters back. She had to brace herself by planting her feet in the ground to finally come to a stop. Shabby or not, the enemy was strong.

"You know, I don't enjoy this stuff." said the android. "Let's see if we can make it quick."

"You just try it, you lowly human!"

"And that's where you're wrong, sweetheart."

Meanwhile, the air got darker. Threatening hisses, and the screeching of bats, filled the room, without having a single clear source. It was like the atmosphere itself was filled with dread. At the epicentre of it all was Krillin, whose aura had been expanded to encompass the whole stage of the fight. His eyes shone with a red gleam.

"Puff yourself up, undead one." said Dabura, with a smirk. "It only helped you run away last time."

"Last time was one hundred years ago. I am not the same any more."

The vampire dissolved with a scream in a thousand bats, coming at Dabura from all direction. The demon spun around, using his cloak as a net to grab and trap them; but as soon as they were bundled up, Krillin ripped the fabric and came out, in human shape again, fangs bared for the kill. Dabura materialised a sword in his hand and used it to parry. Instead of flesh, Krillin found only metal to bite. The sword's blade cracked and was discarded quickly. The vampire spat out a few chunks with a disgusted face.

"Glad to hear that." the demon smiled. "Me neither."

He kicked up, sending Krillin straight through the ceiling. A whole tower crumbled, falling sideways after having lost strength at its base. Immediately, Dabura pursued, and with a double punch smashed his enemy back to the ground. But he never arrived. The vampire turned into mist in midair, and swirled up, to engulf the demon again.

"Brothe-"

Towa's shout was cut short by a punch straight to her jaw. Despite the physical inferiority, Eighteen had quickly gained the upper hand. All she needed to do was dodge Towa's telegraphed attacks and retaliate with twice the number of blows. Slowly but surely she'd been nipping away at the demon's resistance. As well as her patience.

"That's it, you die now!" screamed Towa. "Let's see how you like this!"

With a whirl of her hand and some incomprehensible mumbling, she summoned a weapon of her own. A spear, faintly glowing with a purple light. Having more reach could make her troublesome, decided Eighteen, as she took some more distance. She couldn't afford to dodge it with too much safety margin either, though, or she'd never have time to hit back. Energy attacks would probably be too weak or too slow.

The spear bolted forward in a pattern of back and forth attacks, each one trying to goad her in position for the next one. Still quite predictable, but dodging them was still tricky. The last one scratched the edge of Eighteen's jacket.

To her horror, the fabric blackened and writhed into little more than ash. The charred remains of the indument just naturally fell off her upper body, now barely covered by her damaged shirt only.

"Ten thousand years in one second!" gloated Towa, laughing. "Have a taste of the Spear of Time! Better not get hit, wouldn't want to get some wrinkles on that pretty face."

That is _not_ going to happen, thought the android. But she still would rather not be hit. She wasn't sure her components, or her reactor, could last that long without maintenance. 

"This is really not fun." she murmured, teeth clenched.

"Give up already, vampire!" shouted Dabura, above all other noise. "You're finished now!"

To her horror, Eighteen turned to see Krillin immobilised. His right leg was slowly but surely morphing into stone. Just leave it to her luck, to be paired with some guy who suddenly goes and  _becomes a statue_ mid-fight.

"How does that even _happen_?!" she screamed, dodging another swipe of Towa's spear by bending backwards.

"He spat on me!" 

"Ew, gross!"

With a jerk, Krillin ripped off the petrified leg before the curse could spread. Blood gushed out, but quickly stopped. Unable to walk properly any more, he just switched to flying. But as soon as the momentary jolt of pain faded, allowing him to focus again on Dabura, it was too late.

"Got ya!"

The demon's sword pierced Krillin's shoulder and pinned him to a nearby wall. He tried to wriggle free, tried to transform, but it didn't seem to work. Maybe the sword was cursed too, draining his powers, or maybe the wound had left him weakened. Hell if Eighteen knew. But Dabura now walked slowly towards him, with a smug smile, hand ready to deliver the fatal blow.

"Don't you dare  _lose_ on me!" said the android, running towards the scene, still dodging Towa's weapon. "After you woke me up and put me into this damn pinch!"

"Give up already!" screamed her enemy, tight in pursuit. "Let me send you to join him!"

And it was as everything seemed truly and completely lost that Eighteen had an idea. A crazy, dangerous, nearly hopeless idea, but what the hell. It might just work.

She ran towards Krillin.

Dabura was charging a big ball of energy in his palm.

Towa was in pursuit, and prepared the spear for one final thrust.

And as she was right in front of the kid, blocked against the wall, defeated and with a look of suffering, she brought her lips close to his ears.

"This will hurt a bit." she whispered.

Then she pushed hard off the hilt of the sword that kept him in place with her hands and hurled herself into the air feet first. Towa, surprised, couldn't alter her momentum and kept on her previous trajectory. The Spear of Time plunged deep into Krillin's chest, and the wall behind it. The vampire screamed.

One instant later, a dumbfounded Towa, still trying desperately to free her weapon, was hit in the face by Eighteen's full powered energy beam. Her smoking, decapitated body fell on the floor.

Dabura had barely managed to process it all. He went from a smug look of triumph to one of despair for his sister, to something else. Surprise, then horror, at the sight of what was happening to Krillin's body.

Ten thousand years in one second. His leg regenerated almost immediately. His body started growing, taking on more adult proportions. His arms extended and became more muscular. His chest puffed up. From his shaved scalp grew a long mane of black hair, reaching to his belt. He now looked like a young man in his twenties rather than a kid. And most importantly, his aura increased tenfold. The darkness and dread radiating from his body became so overwhelming, even the king of demons fell to his knees. All light faded from the world.

Krilling ripped both sword and spear out of his body easily. The wounds healed in an instant. He took one step forward, two, and the closer he was, the more Dabura turned into a blubbering mess out of the sheer menace emanating from his aura.

"Master Babidi will triumph in the end!" he stuttered, while crawling backwards, away from the vampire. "Majin Buu will get you!"

"Does this Babidi have any mooks stronger than you to throw at me?" asked Krillin.

The demon didn't answer, he simply launched one last desperate attack with his claws, screaming incoherently. His hand stabbed Krillin's shoulder.

"Thought so." said the vampire, smiling.

Dabura tried to pull his hand out, but panicked as he realised he couldn't. It was stuck. The shoulder started pulsating, and the demon screamed. In large glops, his blood was being sucked through his arm into the vampire's body. He tried to resist faintly, but to no avail. After one minute, it was all over. Krillin ripped the corpse's dried out arm from his own shoulder and let it fall to the ground. Then he sat down on the floor and allowed himself a deep sigh. He looked infinitely tired, both in body and soul.

"Well, that was intense." said Eighteen, landing next to him. "You didn't lie when you said age is power for you guys."

Krillin glanced at her. "As I said, I _do_ grow up. Slowly."

"Mmmh. You think you have any more growing to do? Because you're still kinda short."

"What? I'm _insanely_ tall!" protested the other. He got up, looked carefully at his new body, admiring hands, arms and chest. He touched his hair, following it with his hands down to his belt. Then he looked Eighteen in the eyes.

Even standing on the ground, she was still one full head above him.

"Damn." he mumbled, defeated.

"Hey, it's not so bad. You're kinda cute." commented Eighteen, off-handedly. "I mean, for a blood sucking monster and all."

"I don't even _like_ blood." whined Krillin. "It tastes like eating nails. I just can't help it."

A block of stone from the mangled ceiling of the castle fell down. The android casually swatted it away with a motion of her hand before it could hit either of them.

"Not much left of your castle." she commented.

"It's allright. I just thought it fit my image." said Krillin. "What's important is that the crypt's still in one piece."

"What's in the crypt?"

Instead of answering this, the vampire got up and invited her to follow him with a gesture. They walked among the rubble until he found a small trapdoor, then they descended from that. There were no stairs, just a vast, cavernous underground space, but to people able to fly this was no issue. 

At the centre of the cavern was a glass display, and inside of that, a dried up corpse. The corpse belonged to a man whose age was hard to place, but tall and probably muscular. His hair was spiky and unruly, and he was still wrapped in an orange gi. Eighteen knew instantly that that wasn't an enemy. The display wasn't a trophy to expose to visitors to scare them into considering the power of the castle's owner. It was hidden away, personal. A memorial.

She just knew who he was. Seeing him dead like that was the last thing untethering her forever from Dr. Gero's wishes.

"Son Goku." she said.

We fought Dabura together, the first time." explained Krillin. " Neither of us had much of a chance, but he exposed himself for me, blocked a hit with his body. Got mortally wounded."

"And you sucked his blood?"

"He _asked_ me to do it. He knew he was done for anyway, and said that this way I'd be stronger, and we could go on fighting together. So much like him. Well, it worked. I managed to push Dabura back, at least. But only today I've finally avenged him."

"You mean  _we_ have." Eighteen crossed her arms. "I'm not getting woken up and tossed in some crazy fight with demons to then have my help unrecognised."

Krillin turned to her, alarmed. He bowed deeply. "I'm sorry! You're right, thanks. Thanks really. Without you, I would have lost."

"That's better. So what do you say about waking up my brother?"

"Oh, sure." Krillin took flight, leaving the crypt, followed by the android. "As I said, we're close to the lab."

"Fantastic. So then we can go hunt this Babidi guy together."

Krillin looked at her with a weirded look.

"What?" asked Eighteen, pouting. "You don't want me around?"

"No! I mean yes! I mean no!" answered the vampire, panicking. "I mean, I was surprised. I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with me any more after this. Even though I acted tough and all earlier."

"Well, but with you, we're not really taking any risks, right?" she said. "So it's just going to be a bit of a fun diversion. And I was under the impression you wanted some company."

Krillin looked away, blushing again.

"And I wonder how'd you choose between waking me or my brother up." added Eighteen, thoughtful.

Krillin blushed so much you could have believed he was alive again.

"Seriously,  _I couldn't imagine..._ "

"It's not like that." blurted out the vampire. "But yes, sometimes it does feel a bit lonely. It's five hundred years since I fought together with someone else."

"Can't blame you there. So, are we going?"

"I was thinking... I may have something for you to wear. A spare cloak." said Krillin.

"Why would I wear one of those?"

Silently, the vampire pointed at her mangled shirt, and Eighteen suddenly understood why he'd been so carefully trying to avert his eyes from her all the time.

"What, you don't like the view?" she said, teasingly.

"I'll just go pick something." he blurted out, and scurried away among the castle's ruins.

Eighteen chuckled and sat on a crashed piece of ceiling, looking at the mountains. For all they could complain, she thought, _they_ had been around much longer than any android or vampire. You didn't get a much better perspective on eternity than that.

Not that she even really knew whether she was truly immortal. Machines broke down. She just had an indefinite extension on her life. With all that stuff behind her back, the old world and the doctor buried by five hundred years of time, she didn't have any ties of any sort. She'd just have to start it out from scratch. With her brother next to her, like he'd always been, even from the times she couldn't remember. And hopefully, as it seemed, not only him.

She smiled. All considered, this would be fun.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I know this was a really silly idea. But I had it for a while and wanted to put it down on paper. I thought even about making a long fic out of it but frankly I don't think I would have managed to make it run any longer while keeping it interesting, so one shot it is. I hope you appreciated it!
> 
> As a few notes: the character of Towa comes from some of the games (personally I saw her in Dragon Ball Xenoverse) and is supposed to be indeed Dabura's sister. The Spear of Time is just something I invented. Krillin's OP vampire powers are a mix of a bunch of franchises. Some of it is from Hellsing, like the instantaneous regeneration. The blood sucking at a distance is something seen in the Legacy of Kain games, while sucking it through one's body appears in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Either way, I mostly went with the Rule of Cool there. Turning into mist or clouds of bats too is common stuff in a lot of vampire stories.
> 
> Please leave a review if you liked this story, and if you want more in a similar style check out my other Dragon Ball fanfics!


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